News and discussion on K-12 schools in the greater Sacramento region

December 21, 2012

California has been denied a waiver from federal sanctions associated with No Child Left Behind, said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson in a press release issued today.

"It is disappointing that our state's request - which enjoyed such strong support from parents, teachers, administrators, and education advocates across California--has apparently been rejected," Torlakson said in a statement.

Under the law, 100 percent of students must score at grade level on math and English tests by 2014, a high mark designed to make schools focus attention on their worst-performing students.

Schools that don't meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind two years in a row are placed in "Program Improvement," which forces schools to spend federal Title 1 money on private after-school tutoring or offer students the opportunity to transfer to another school. Schools can also be subject to a state takeover or significant restructuring.

"Based on a thorough examination of federal and state law, California made a good-faith effort to seek relief from requirements that even federal officials have acknowledged time and again are deeply flawed," Torlakson said in the statement. "Working within the framework of existing law, we offered to instead emphasize our own state system of school accountability, which provides far more useful and meaningful measures of school performance."

A Bee story published earlier this week found three-quarters, or 230, of the Sacramento region's Title I schools are in "Program Improvement." That number includes schools in Davis and Rocklin with composite test scores near the 90th percentile statewide. To read that story, click HERE.

"I look forward to thoroughly examining the rationale the Administration provides for its decision, and will continue to explore every avenue for providing California's schools and students the relief they deserve," Torlakson said.

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About Report Card

Loretta Kalb started her reporting career at The Sacramento Union, moved to KOVR-13 as a television reporter, editor and producer, headed to The Associated Press in San Francisco and eventually returned to Sacramento and joined The Sacramento Bee. Throughout her career, she has covered the state Legislature, courts, local government and, now, education. She is a Chico native and an Elk Grove resident.

Diana Lambert began her journalism career as a proofreader at the Lodi News-Sentinel. She is now a senior writer at The Sacramento Bee covering K-12 education and California State University, Sacramento. Previously she was The Beeâ€™s Elk Grove bureau chief. Lambert was raised in a military family and lived at bases around the globe. She attended four high schools, graduating from Tokay High in Lodi and then Sacramento State University. She lives in Elk Grove.